Danes dreading playoff draw after World Cup qualifying debacle

Danish fans and media were tearing their hair out after the national side fumbled the chance of direct qualification for next year's World Cup with poor performances against Belarus and Scotland and a further nightmare might await in the playoffs.

Neighbours Norway topped their group to go through to the finals automatically but Sweden had to settle for a playoff berth through the Nations League and are among the fourth seeds.

The Danes, one of the four top seeds in the playoffs, could therefore face an angst-filled one-off semifinal against local rivals the Swedes to have any chance of progressing.

"It would be a horror scenario because the consequence of a Danish defeat would mean that Denmark would have to spend the summer on the couch watching Sweden and Norway participate in the finals, which we were one goal against Belarus away from participating in," Lasse Voge, sports editor for newspaper BT, said on Wednesday.

The Danes came into the final international window of 2025 firmly in control of their own destiny but somehow managed to find themselves 2-1 down at home to Belarus on Saturday before coming back to scrape a 2-2 draw.

That left them needing a point against Scotland to guarantee qualifying for the tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico.

However, the Scots ripped up the script with two stunning stoppage-time goals in a thrilling 4-2 win that saw them qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1998, with the Danes dumped into the playoffs.

3' Scotland 1-0 Denmark
57' Scotland 1-1 Denmark
78' Scotland 2-1 Denmark
81' Scotland 2-2 Denmark
90'+3' Scotland 3-2 Denmark
90'+8' Scotland 4-2 Denmark

Football. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎉 pic.twitter.com/Yj1BRsekBu — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) November 18, 2025

"For Denmark to get one point over two games and finish 4-2 here ... we have to look ourselves in the mirror and say that it's simply not good enough," former Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner said on TV2 on Tuesday.

"Denmark will not advance from that playoff game if the national team makes the same mistakes they have made here. We can just forget about that," his former international colleague Lars Jacobsen added.

The playoff draw is in Zurich on Thursday with Denmark in the first pot with Italy, Turkey and Ukraine.

They will face a team from pot four - where the Swedes are joined by Romania, North Macedonia and Northern Ireland - in a semi on March 26.

The Danes will play at home and if they win will go on to meet one of the teams in pot two (Poland, Wales, Czechia, Slovakia) or pot three (Ireland, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo) in a March 31 decider, with a World Cup spot at stake.